Can surgery be avoided in patients with symptomatic gallstone disease and no complications?

Miriam Brazzelli*, Alison Avenell, Katie Gillies, Craig Ramsay, Irfan Ahmed

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalComment/debatepeer-review

5 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

What you need to know
• Laparoscopic cholecystectomy is the current treatment of choice for
people with symptoms of gallstone disease
• There is limited evidence from two randomised controlled trials that
conservative management with pain medications and observation may
be a safe alternative to surgery in patients with acute cholecystitis or
biliary colic and no complications, as symptoms may subside over time
and not recur
• A proportion of patients with uncomplicated gallstone disease who are
initially treated conservatively may never require surgery
Original languageEnglish
Article numberl5709
Number of pages4
JournalThe BMJ
Volume367
Issue number8218
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 11 Oct 2019

Bibliographical note

Funding: The Health Services Research Unit is funded by the Chief Scientist Office of the Scottish Government Health and Social Care Directorates.

Contributors: MB and IA drafted this article. All authors agreed on its final version. MB and IA are guarantors for the article. All authors take responsibility for the integrity and accuracy of the data and information reported.

Keywords

  • Cholecystectomy
  • Clinical Decision-Making
  • Conservative Treatment
  • Gallstones/therapy
  • Humans
  • Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic
  • MANAGEMENT
  • SILENT GALLSTONES
  • NATURAL-HISTORY
  • CHOLECYSTECTOMY

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